2 Causes of change

This Topic considers both natural and anthropogenic drivers of climate change, including the chain from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to atmospheric concentrations to radiative forcing[4] to climate responses and effects.

^ Radiative forcing is a measure of the influence a factor has in altering the balance of incoming and outgoing energy in the Earth-atmosphere system and is an index of the importance of the factor as a potential climate change mechanism. In this report radiative forcing values are for changes relative to pre-industrial conditions defined at 1750 and are expressed in watts per square metre (W/m2).